Monday, March 21, 2011

#81 Shallow Water Baptisms

Slow week. Really slow. And kind of gradual. Like a downhill. Those are my
thoughts. When things are getting a little easy, you know you are NOT
going up.

Whatever sickness I had, passed again pretty quickly. Just a question
of not eating for about a day and a half to let my stomach fix
whatever was wrong.

Tuesday, we had a baptism for two small children whose parents just
never got around to baptizing them. Thankfully, that's not most of
what we do anymore, but Elder Do. said that's what it was like
before I arrived. It was nice, as we insisted the father's were the
ones to perform the baptisms. President Deho gave a
wonderful welcome to them. President Deho is the branch president in
Asunafo branch. Generally, our branch presidents are all pretty
awesome.

Wednesday, we had to go on splits with the Konongo elders, so I spent
some more time with Elder He... and we had ANOTHER baptism,
this time for Ko. Ye. It was a little frustrating as we had to
wait for hours to get the font water up to knee level, but he put up with it
like a champ. [The power has been out in the area for awhile. This makes water

difficult to come by. ] We've invented a new baptism method. I think it'll
really catch on, like the Fosbury Flop. The baptist is kneeling and the candidate is
sitting down. The baptism goes on as usual, but this time, the water
is only about a foot deep. Think of all the water we'd save!

Thursday, Friday and Saturday, we were out of travel money, and low on
subsistence funds, so we spent the whole time in Abomosu. It really is a
tiny place. I'm pretty sure we knocked on every door. As President Monson
would say "Great! Now just teach and baptize them!" Working on it. We
had a great lesson with an Elder from another church. We'd just
listened to Elder LeGrand Richards' "Missionary Experiences" talk,
about how you NEVER have to argue if you just learn how to tell our
story. Things became a little tense when we talked about the Priesthood,
but we really emphasized that it is not the Bible that determines the
truth. God has not, ever, in the history of the world, decided to lead
His people with a book, no matter how inspired. The Exodus had Moses,
the Meridian of time had Christ, and the last days had Joseph Smith.
The only time the Children of Israel were led by the written word was
when they were in a state of apostasy, after Malachi, and before
Christ.

Transfers are coming up. Maybe it's a sign that I'm going home soon,
but I'm really not even thinking about it. I suspect I'll finish in
this village anyway. Maybe the fact that I am TOTALLY SICK OF FUFU is
a sign, too. I am really loving everything else, though. And I am
totally safe. The rest of the world is falling apart, but Ghana is
still Ghana. Plus, I've become pretty deft with a cutlass these past
few weeks, so if any nonsense comes up, I should be okay. Elder Do. grew up
in a barracks and the Terry's have a generator. We'll be fine.

Love you all,
Elder W. Farnbach

P.S Elder Ke. and Elder Om. have their final trial on the 30th.
Prosecution, according to reports, has all but given up. Please pray and fast for them.